General information, not medical or legal advice. Registration, burial and cremation rules belong to each state and territory. In Queensland, the hospital’s health care providers can explain the legal requirements for registration and for burial or cremation, but the hospital does not register the baby: the birth needs to be registered with the registry, at no cost. In Victoria, the law requires parents of a baby who was stillborn or died soon after birth to register the birth, within 60 days. The births, deaths and marriages registry in each state is the official place to check its own rules.
Queensland · Victoria
Who these rules are about
The rules turn on a definition, and the two states word it slightly differently. Queensland’s health page describes stillbirth as the death before birth of a baby older than 20 weeks’ gestation or weighing more than 400 grams. Victoria’s registry words it as 20 weeks or more in the womb, or over 400 grams, determined by the medical practitioner.
An earlier loss cannot be registered as a birth, but both states recognise it with a free certificate instead. The rest of this page is about a baby who was stillborn or who lived for a short time.
Queensland · national
Time with your baby
Queensland’s page puts it plainly: “Many parents find that having the chance to spend time with their baby is important.” It adds that creating memories can help with grieving.
A first decision is not a final one. A parent who chose not to see their baby after the birth can still ask to, either at the hospital before going home or later, before the funeral.
The Raising Children Network, writing for parents whose child of any age has died, says that in the hours afterwards parents may want to stay with their child, hold them, and then wash and dress them, and that there is no hurry.
Queensland
What can be kept
Queensland’s page sets out what the hospital arranges, and what parents can choose beyond it.
- The hospital’s mementos. The health care provider arranges keepsakes for parents, which may include the tape measure used to measure the baby, a lock of hair, the cot name card, the identification bracelet, and footprints and handprints.
- Memories parents make. Photographs and video, a memory box, or a baptism, christening or another ceremony are all choices the page names.
- Photographs by a volunteer. The page lists Heartfelt, a volunteer organisation that gives families professional photographs free of charge.
Queensland
Taking your baby home
Queensland’s page treats taking a baby home before the funeral as a decision for the parents, made with information the health care provider can give: how a baby’s body is preserved, how a baby is released from hospital, and what the law requires for registering the birth and death and for the burial or cremation.
Queensland · Victoria
Burial or cremation
In Queensland it is a legal requirement to arrange a burial or a cremation for a stillborn baby. Queensland’s Cremations Act 2003 defines human remains to include the body of a stillborn child.
Victoria’s forms name babies directly. The application to cremate covers a still-born child and a child born alive who dies within 28 days of birth, and so does the application for a burial.
National
The Stillborn Baby Payment
Services Australia makes a one-off payment after a stillbirth. As at October 2026 it is $4,482.12. Its page sets out who can get it:
“To get this you must:
- have recently had a stillborn baby
- be under the income test limits or eligible for Family Tax Benefit Part A
- not be getting Parental Leave Pay for the same baby.”
Services Australia, Stillborn Baby Payment
Services Australia also keeps a page on the help it gives when a child dies, which brings its payments and services together.
National · NSW
Support, from the first days
healthdirect notes that grief can be especially severe after the death of an infant or a child.
- Red Nose Grief and Loss Support Line
- 1300 308 307, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week , for anyone affected by the loss of a pregnancy, a stillbirth, or the death of a baby or child.
The NSW Government’s grief page names organisations that offer specialised support, including Sands for parents whose baby has died and Red Nose for families whose child has died. healthdirect lists The Compassionate Friends Australia for support after the death of a child.
For the first days, the Raising Children Network suggests getting help with the formalities, such as the death certificate and dealing with the funeral home. When a death was unexpected, it points to the hospital’s psychologists, social workers or chaplain, or the family’s GP. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, it says the care team may be able to put them in touch with the local Aboriginal liaison service.